Sunday, March 18, 2018

A School Time Capsule Project can be started within a few weeks in any school serving grades from 3 through 12. It only requires a principal and staff who want to see over 80% of the parents of their students actively involved. They become involved by writing letters to their child both recording their dreams for their students and writing family history stories they want their child to pass on to grandchildren someday.

Two annual writing projects in Language Arts Class achieve these goals. The first is a letter written by students to their parents and other important adults in their life. That letter asks for a letter back to the student answering two questions of the adult: 1) "What are your dreams for me?" and 2) "Will you write me a story from your history that you want me to pass on to my children someday?"

About two weeks after that first letter, when most students will have received and studied the letters received back from all the people they wrote to, the second writing project happens. It involves the students writing a letter to themselves about their own futures.

All these letters are then placed into one self-addressed envelope for each student. These envelopes are then placed into the School Time Capsule, usually a 500 to 700-pound vault located in a central location in the school lobby.

Before these writing projects each year students and parents are given back the letters they wrote the year before. Children change a lot in one year. The quality of the letters almost always improves year to year. It is good for both parents and students to see those changes reflected in their letters.

The only big change in the annual letter writing is in the 8th and 12th grades when students, and everyone writing to them, write letters planning dreams for a decade into the future. These are the letters that remain in the vault for a decade. At their class 10-year reunion these letters are returned.

We are now planning the 4th such reunion at Quintanilla Middle School which, after 14 years of the School Time Capsule Project, is one of the highest performing middle schools of all 33 DISD middle schools.

The reunions are always planned a week or more before Career Day so that the returning former students can volunteer to speak that day with current students about their lives after middle school and how they chose their professions.

As students become more future-focused they also become more well-motivated. Behavior problems decrease. The School Effectiveness Indices (SEI) scores for all schools with active Time Capsule Projects have risen this past decade to be among the highest in all of Dallas ISD. See more details about progress in Time Capsule Project Schools in this report filed last November: http://schoolarchiveproject.blogspot.com/2017/11/school-time-capsule-project-update-11-6.html

To begin this project you must simply schedule the two writing projects for all students in all grades. Plans to secure a vault must be made, but you do not need the vault to begin. It only needs to be secured before the next school year. A 43 cubic 700-pound vault is now recommended, but if your school has classes closer to only 100 students each, a smaller vault will be adequate. We are currently ordering the 700-pound 43 cubic vault from Costco.com that sells for $900, online at https://www.costco.com/Cannon-43.8-Cu-Ft-Executive-Series-Safe%2c-60-min-Fire-Protection.product.100341405.html Smaller vaults are available but this vault gives potential for growth in the amount of materiel students can store in their letters. Larger envelopes can be used to allow all the letters to be collected for storage until the 10-year reunion.

Below are examples of directions recommended for students for the writing of that first letter to their parents, and other adults in their lives such as grandparents. They were written using https://readable.io/text/ so that they are written for three different reading levels.

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Directions for 3rd through 5th grade students for the first Time Capsule Project writing lesson:

What are your dreams
for me?
Time Capsule Project Letter Student Directions
Elementary School 3-8-18

Write a
letter to each of the most important adults in your life. Write to your
parents, grandparents, other relatives, or even school staff.

Ask them to
write you a letter telling their dreams for you.

Ask them to
write one story from your family’s history. It can be a story they want you to
someday tell your own children.

Your parents
and/or relatives will finish their letter. Read it with them. Ask them
questions so you can best understand their letter.

Bring the
letters you have received to school. Bring them on the day your teacher says
you will write a letter to yourself. In this letter write your dreams for your
own future.

Place all these
letters into one envelope. Put your name and home address on the envelope.

Your envelope will return to you in one year.

***************************************
Directions for 6th through 8th grade students for the first Time Capsule Project writing lesson:

What are your dreams
for me?
Directions for the first Time Capsule Project letter
Middle School 3-8-18

Write a
letter to each of the most important adults in your life. Write to your
parents, grandparents, guardians or other relatives. You may even write to
school staff you may be close to. Write
to adults from whom you would like a letter describing their dreams for
you.

You may
write your letter in any language.

You will
write such letters each year. You change
a lot in one year. You will write
letters to the adults observing your changes.
They will describe how their dreams for you have changed as you change.

Ask them to
each write one story from your family’s history. It can be a story about
themselves or any relative. It should be
a story they consider valuable. It should be a story they want you to pass on
to your children someday.

When your
parents and/or relatives finish their letter, read it at home with them. Ask
them questions so you understand it. The
goal is for you to understand the letter.

Bring all
the letters you have received to your Language Arts Class. Do this on the day
planned to write a letter to yourself. On that day your teacher will give you
an envelope. It will hold all the letters you have received. Place your name
and address on this envelope. You will then write a letter to yourself about
your own plans for the future.

You will
also place the letter you write into this self-addressed envelope. You will place that envelope into the School
Time-Capsule. This will happen each year
until you graduate.

Every year
you will receive back this envelope with your letters. The only differences
will be in the 8th and 12th grade. Those years you will write letters planning
your life 10-years into the future.
Those same years the relatives writing to you will also describe their
dreams for you 10-years into the future. These 10-year letters will remain
inside the school time capsule for 10 years.

In 10 years
your class will have a 10-year reunion. At that reunion you will receive these
envelopes back. School staff will invite you to speak with the then current
students in your former middle school.
You will give your recommendations for success to them. You will
describe life after middle school.

***************************************
Directions for 9th through 12th grade students for the first Time Capsule Project writing lesson:

What are your dreams
for me?
Directions for the first Time Capsule Project letter
High School Students 3-8-18

Write a
letter to each of the most important adults in your life. Write to your
parents, grandparents, guardians or other relatives. You may also write to
school staff you may be close to. Write
to adults from whom you would like a letter describing their dreams for
you.

You may
write your letters in any language.

You will be
writing such letters each year. You
change a lot in a year. You will write
letters to the adults observing your changes.
They will describe how their dreams for you have changed as you change.

Ask them to
each include one story from your family’s history in their letter. It can be a
story about themselves or any relative.
It should be a story they consider valuable. It should be a story they
want you to pass on to your children someday.

When your
parents and/or relatives finish their letter, read it with them. Ask them
questions so you understand it. The goal
is for you to understand the letter.

Bring all
the letters you have received to your Language Arts Class. Do this on the day
planned to write a letter to yourself. On that day your teacher will give you
an envelope. It will hold all the letters you have received. Place your name
and address on this envelope. You will then write a letter to yourself about
your own plans for the future.

You will
also place the letter you write into your self-addressed envelope. You will place that envelope into the School
Time-Capsule. This will happen each year
until you graduate.

Every year
you will receive back this envelope with your letters. The only differences
will be in the 12th grade. That year you will write a letter planning your life
10-years into the future. Your senior
year the relatives writing to you will also describe their dreams for you
10-years into the future. Your senior year letters will remain inside the
school time capsule for 10 years.

In 10 years
your class will have your first 10-year class reunion. At that reunion you will
receive these envelopes back. School staff will invite you to speak with the
then current students in your former high school. You will give your recommendations for
success to them. You will describe life after high school. You will give the recommendations you wish
you had received. You can also talk about the recommendations you did receive
and now regret not having followed.

But for now,
plan the future you want and describe how you will achieve it.

About Bill

Retired middle school teacher & social worker with student motivation hobby. Resume at http://www.openadoption.org/bbetzen/resume.htm. The only other Bill Betzen online is his grandfather (1890-1969.) bbetzen@aol.com